Joaquin Sanchez, Lead Organizer, COPA

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Joaquin Sanchez understands that change can come from something as simple as a conversation. As Lead Organizer of COPA (Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action), his mission is to help individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities have the kinds of conversations that will change lives. COPA is a broad-based organization comprising two dozen diverse member organizations—congregations, churches, schools and non-profits—in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Recently, COPA and The Big Sur Land Trust began working together to address the issue of park space in Salinas, where high-density communities are currently suffering from health challenges and social issues associated with a lack of access to natural open space and recreation opportunities.

Sanchez was a student at U.C. Berkeley, volunteering at a nearby high school, when a tragic death—a boy killed in a drive-by shooting, three months before graduation— helped set him on the path to becoming a professional organizer. “I began looking for a way to approach challenges from a community perspective, rather than just an individual perspective,” he says. He continued his training as a civil engineer and pursued his career in Texas, but other volunteer opportunities beckoned, including a summer youth employment program, until he understood that he had found his vocation. After working as an organizer in Texas and, later, Los Angeles, Sanchez arrived on the Central Coast in 2007 to work for COPA.

“COPA’s mission is to build the power to address issues of housing, public safety, education, immigration, health care and economic opportunity,” Sanchez says. “We are a vehicle for action.” The Land Trust’s focus on fostering healthy connections between land and people, especially in the context of youth and families, overlaps with COPA’s work to promote green space in Salinas. One major initiative is the Regional Soccer Complex, a long-term project to develop high quality soccer fields and programs in central Salinas that provide a healthy and safe environment for youth to play soccer, develop life skills and choose positive and attractive alternatives to gangs and violence prevalent in Salinas and throughout the County.

“Green space is necessary for healthy communities,” Sanchez says. “Right now there is a lack of soccer fields. Teams and leagues are competing for limited resources. Promoting sports is an important strategy for getting young people out of trouble. It’s really a prevention strategy for community safety.”

A signature campaign supporting the construction of the soccer complex is underway, with house parties already yielding 7,000 signatures towards a goal of 10,000. It’s one more way to encourage people to feel connected to the process of positive change.

“Joaquin is an excellent listener,” says Alfred Diaz-Infante, President and CEO of CHISPA (Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association) and a member of The Big Sur Land Trust’s Advisory Council. “He does a great job building bridges between organizations. The Big Sur Land Trust understands that in focusing the community’s attention on the natural environment, it’s important to engage everybody. That means understanding the issues that hardworking people face on a day-to-day basis. It’s going to take dialogue.”

“Creating healthy, whole communities requires the Land Trust to broaden its relationships and promote new partnerships,” says Bill Leahy, BSLT’s Executive Director. “Through our relationship with COPA, we can see what we do differently and create a more powerful brand of land trust work.”

Sanchez believes that the barriers between neighborhoods and different geographic areas of the County are real, but can be overcome. “The fractured nature of the political landscape can make things difficult,” he says. “Public discourse is often driven by ideology rather than people really sharing their experiences. COPA provides the framework for sharing to take place and then, most importantly, to lead to concrete actions. We want to help restore the capacity for people to be citizens in the fullest sense, so people feel a sense of stewardship in shaping what goes on within their neighborhoods.”

You can help foster healthy connections between land and people.